Unplugged Living

Smart Hydro Meters in Ontario

by Kevin Humphrey on November 3rd, 2005

Here in my home province of Ontario, Canada, our provincial government announced today that it will spend $1 billion (Cdn) to install ’smart’ hydro (electricity) meters into every home and business in the province as part of its effort to conserve energy.

It’s hoped that the meters will help us consumers monitor how much electricity we use at any time and hence save energy and money by running our stuff during off-peak hours when demand and prices are lower. Good theory, because hopefully more folks will become aware of how much juice they’re using and when, which could lead to increased conservation.

Unfortunately, this little plan won’t be completed until 2010 and quite frankly this was something we were pushing for 15 years ago when I was working for an environmental organization in Toronto. It’s also coming from the same provincial government who just three weeks ago announced that it is going to blow $4.25 billion to restart two previously moth-balled nuclear reactors (originally shut down due to safety concerns) as its great plan for dealing with our future energy needs.

How does this go again? One step forward, two steps back, cha cha cha.

Here’s the CBC article detailing today’s announcement and then here’s the one from last month regarding restarting those nukes.

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POSTED IN: Conservation, General, News